Assimilation of Native Americans Into Society

“How different would be the sensation of a philosophic mind to reflect that instead of exterminating a part of the human race by our modes of population that we had persevered through all difficulties and at last had imparted our Knowledge of cultivating and the arts, to the Aboriginals of the Country by which the source of future life and happiness had been preserved and extended. But it has been conceived to be impracticable to civilize the Indians of North America – This opinion is probably more convenient than just.” (Henry Knox to George Washington 1970’s) Since the founding of The United States of America, the complication of dealing with the indigenous Native Americans has been prevalent. The opening quotation emphasizes the idea that our fathers grappled over what to do with the Indians since the founding of our country. Post colonial era Native Americans were discriminated against in a battle defined by “the white man versus the red man”. As American settlers and institutions expanded westward, the Indians were pushed aside not only by containing them in reservations but were often disregarded as Americans from the “civilized” and educated white American. These prejudices even came from far up the totem pole in Washington. The politics in the 19th century American Government regarding the indigenous people were defined by an era of the “Americanization of the Native American people”.
This analytical research paper will address the issue of Native American assimilation and display how the efforts made by the American Government failed to shed a positive light on the indigenous people. It will also explore the founding of specific schools for Indian children, namely the Carlisle Indian Industrial School for Native Americans. The school was intended to integrate Indian children into western society by educating them and transforming their cultural beliefs. Although founder Richard Henry Pratt had good intentions for the school, it ended up doing more

Bibliography: Coleman, Michael C. American Indian Children at School, 1850-1930. n.d. Child, Brenda J. Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Text, 1998. Hoxie, Frederick E. A Final Promise: The Campaign To Assimilate The Indians, 1880-1920. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. Prucha, Francis P. The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians. Vol. 2. N.p.: University of Nebraska Text, 1984 Duran, Eduardo, and Bonnie Duran Prucha, Francis P. Americanizing the American Indians: Writings by the "Friends of the Indian" 1880-1900. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1973 Lee, John Leupp, Francis E. "Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Annual Report. Washington, D.C: Office of the Commissioner of Indian Affair." Library of Congress, American Indians of the Pacific Northwest (1908) Dawes, Henry L Schultz, Jeffrey D. Encyclopedia of Minorities in American Politics : Volume 2, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2000. Simonsen, Jane E. Making Home Work : Domesticity and Native American Assimilation in the American West, 1860-1919. Chappel Hill: UNC Press, 2006. "The Indian School at Chemawa." The West Shore 13, no. 1 (1887): 5-12. Davis, Julie. "American Indian Boarding School Experiences: Recent Studies from Native Perspectives." OAH Magazine of History Vol. 15, No. 2, 2001, 20-22. Fear-Segal, Jackie. "Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940 by Brenda J. Child." Journal of American Studies 34, no. 1 (2000): 160-161. Hoerig, Karl A. "Remembering Our Indian School Days: The Boarding School Experience." Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Experiences by Margaret L. Archuleta; Brenda J. Child; K. Tsianina Lomawaima (2002): 642-646.